Electrochemical nanopatterning of polyelectrolyte layer-by-layer self-assembled ultrathin films

PMSE 213

Rigoberto C. Advincula, radvincula@uh.edu, Departments of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, University of Houston, 4800 Calhoun Road, 136 Fleming Building, Houston, TX 77204-5003
In this work, we describe the use of doped conjugated polymers and “precursor polymers” to investigate the electrochemical nanopatterning of layer-by-layer (LBL) films with precise correlation on film formation parameters and properties. This work has important implications in the fabrication of nanocircuits and sensor devices at the nanoscale. By comparison to other π-conjugated polymer routes, these polymers are made polyelectrolytic and at the same time contain electropolymerizable pendant groups that can be electrochemically cross-linked to form conjugated polymer networks. The use of similar polymers has been demonstrated to result in relief nanostructures due to electrochemical crosslinking and joule heating in spin-coated films. We hereby describe the synthesis and characterization of these polyelectrolytes ultrathin films and their electrochemical nanopatterning on conducting substrates. Different nanopatterning parameters such as applied bias voltage, writing speed, and humidity were explored. I-V properties were measured based on current sensing-AFM methods.